Velo'v adventures

I thought I'd change the post this week and tell you an interesting anecdote in which Claire and I lost and gained 150 euros in the space of 3 1/2 hours.

First of all, let me explain the concept of the Velo'v. It is a rentable bicycle with stations all over Lyon. For the low cost of 1 euro for 24 hours you may rent a bike and ride it wherever you wish. It has 3 gears and non-squeeky very good brakes (which, as I remember put me off my last bike).

So after going to 2 bars last night, myself and Claire decided to get a Velo'v each and ride to vieux Lyon to visit the wonderful 24 hour Bredz bakery. Leaving our rented bikes outside to look at the sweet pastry delicacies (rather stupidly we have to admit, but this had been done many times already by Claire) we bought 2 treats each and left to find only one of the bikes remaining outside.

The plice were phoned, they arrived incredibly quickly, I was impressed by Claire's use of French both on the phone and in a crisis. The worry was that if your rented bike is stolen or left somewhere there is a 150 euro fee taken from your bank card. So we gave details to the police (which look so much more intimidating than the English police), more police came which we gave details to aswell, and they told us what to do.

Apparently we had misunerstood what he said slightly, as I had understood that we needed to go to a TCL (Lyon public transport) office, so we looked at the opening times and went back to Claires to sleep for 2 hours. We awoke at 7ish in the morning, and I hope for Claire's sake that her alarm is not still ringing (although the way it wouldn't turn of this morning, my hopes aren't high!), and we walked to Bellecour to a TCL office that opened at 7.30. Where they told us it wasn't where we needed to go, and gave us a number for the Velo'v information centre. I vaguely remembered the policeman telling us to make a report at the station and that we had to take a funicular to get to the 'commissariat' of the 5th arrondissement.

So we walked across place Bellecour, by which time the light rain had turned into freezing bullets, punishing us for being so stupid as to leave our rented bikes unguarded for 5 minutes. But it's France, you can leave your coat unguarded all night in a club/bar without it being stolen so please forgive us our stupidity!

We arrived at the metro station for vieux Lyon to get the funicular, looking like 2 drowned rats, both laughing about and angry at our situation, deciding that we would split the 150 euros fine. However, I didn't know which funicular we needed, or where the police station was, so we asked a member of staff who didn't know either. We decided to call the number for the Velo'v information. And what information they had! We gave them the number of our tickets (issued by the machine in order to rent a Velo'v during the 24 hours). We tried one of our tickets. Then the other. Then double checked the first one. They had both been taken back to a Velo'v station. The thieving sh*t who had stolen our bike had saved us 150 euros. We have mixed feelings towards him now.

Rules of the road: Zebra crossings and Parking

Well this is the last installment of 'rules of the road', there will be something new next week!

Zebra Crossings: well, they exist, but that’s pretty much all they have in common with England. Traffic sometimes stops, but doesn’t have to and most French people you see will just walk across without really looking. Some of the zebra crossings come with a green man (no button to press though, you just have to wait) and some have no lights at all. They’re both as terrifying as each other. Even though most cars have a red light telling them to stop while the green man flashes up for you, cars coming round corners don’t have that all-important red light and will often just slam on the brakes inches away from you. I’m so used to it now I’ve stopped flinching. When attempting the crossing with no green man however, please check that there are no buses on the way first. They stop for no man.

Parking: Basically anywhere. I’m sure the pavements in France have been widened specifically for car users. No space to park on the side of the road? Park on the pavement if it’s wide enough! If not, use your imagination, traffic islands and roundabouts are often perfect spots and with the added bonus that you won’t forget where you left the car.